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It is part of the formidableness of a genuine mass movement that the self-sacrifice it promotes includes also a sacrifice of some of the moral sense, which cramps and restrains our nature.
Eric Hoffer
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Eric Hoffer
Age: 84 †
Born: 1898
Born: July 25
Died: 1983
Died: May 21
Philosopher
Psychologist
Writer
New York City
New York
Moral
Restrains
Sense
Cramps
Nature
Promotes
Part
Includes
Also
Genuine
Self
Sacrifice
Mass
Movement
More quotes by Eric Hoffer
The only way to predict the future is to have power to shape the future.
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Craving, not having, is the mother of a reckless giving of oneself.
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When our individual interests and prospects do not seem worth living for, we are in desperate need for something apart from us to live for. All forms of dedication, devotion, loyalty and self-surrender are in essence a desperate clinging to something which might give worth and meaning to our futile, spoiled lives.
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Many of the insights of the saint stem from his experience as a sinner.
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What monstrosities would walk the streets were some people's faces as unfinished as their minds.
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Freedom released the energies of the masses not by exhilarating but by unbalancing, irritating, and goading.
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Glory is largely a theatrical concept. There is no striving for glory without a vivid awareness of an audience... The desire to escape or camouflage their unsatisfactory selves develops in the frustrated a facility for pretending -- for making a show -- and also a readiness to identify themselves wholly with an imposing spectacle.
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It is apparently vital that we should be in the dark about ourselves not to be clear about our intentions, fears, and hopes. There is a stubborn effort in us to set up a compact screen between consciousness and the self.
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Commitment becomes hysterical when those who have nothing to give advocate generosity, and those who have nothing to give up preach renunciation.
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It is our talents rusting unused within us that secrete the poison of self-doubt into our bloodstream.
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The future belongs to the learners-not the knowers.
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The effectiveness of a doctrine does not come from its meaning but from its certitude. No doctrine however profound and sublime will be effective unless it is presented as the embodiment of the one and only truth
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There are many who have grave scruples about deceiving but think it as nothing to deceive themselves.
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The compulsion to take ourselves seriously is in inverse proportion to our creative capacity. When the creative flow dries up, all we have left is our importance.
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People unfit for freedom - who cannot do much with it - are hungry for power. The desire for freedom is an attribute of a have type of self. It says: leave me alone and I shall grow, learn, and realize my capacities. The desire for power is basically an attribute of a have not type of self.
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The fanatic is not really a stickler to principle. He embraces a cause not primarily because of its justness or holiness but because of his desperate need for something to hold onto.
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It is doubtful whether the oppressed ever fight for freedom. They fight for pride and power-power to oppress others.
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When you automate an industry you modernize it when you automate a life you primitivize it.
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Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many.
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It is startling to realize how much unbelief is necessary to make belief possible.
Eric Hoffer